Surprise

Labor Day. Weekend. Having a Monday off is so refreshing. I really need to start taking some vacation days from work here and there this fall. Just an extra Monday or Friday to have longer weekends once a month would be awesome. I'm going to need to do that in the next week or so to go down to Artprize with my mom. I do need to put in a few extra hours this week just to make up for the extra time that I took off by leaving early on Friday. I love these long weekends and time in my house when no one else is here.

I haven't blogged in a few days - I intended to on Friday - but got carried away with other things and going out to dinner and for drinks at a few new spots in town. Then on Saturday, my s.o. and I went to a restaurant out of town for a late breakfast and then cruised around to the little shops in that area. We even stopped at a little winery and did some wine tasting. When we got back to our house there were a bunch of cars parked in the street and a tent in our driveway. Surprise. Birthday party. It was so nice to have all the people I care about all in one spot for a few hours. My whole family drove up and so did my best friend and her husband and one of their three kids. IT really was a surprise and it was wonderful. And, apparently, when you're 30 people expect you to be drinking a lot. I was given a fifth of vodka and 5 or 6 bottles of wine. Now, my wine rack is full and I don't need to be buying and booze for a while.

Yesterday, friends from downstate came up and we got sucked into hanging out with them for the whole evening and didn't get home until almost 1 AM. I'm awake, ready to get back on track, working on my acrylic gel lift layering, getting caffeinated and ready to go for a run. The weather has taken a cold turn. Which is great for running, but not so great for going to the beach or anything like that. School starts tomorrow - so I'll be carting my s.o.'s son every morning at a time that is typically too early for me to be awake. This may, however, allow me to leave work a little earlier than normal since I will be arriving before my normal time.

I also need to call one my my co-workers today. She asked that I stop over at her house this weekend sometime so that we could discuss some things. She is very secretive and private and has not actually aluded to what the hell she wants to talk to me about - except for the possibility of a studio space on her property. Interesting. Maybe that will work.

That might give me some more real purpose in what I'm doing with my art life right now. Maybe Artpirze will help too. I've got two books to finish reading and I've got a knitted hoodie that I need to finish before I can start on all of the knitted Christmas presents that I'd like to make. I just need to also work into my running and daily life all of the art stuff I want to try too. I keep saying this over and over but it's like a mantra. The more I repeat it the more it sooths me and the more of a chance it has of coming true.